Goshen, IN 5/28/01 Is there any
other place to be other than Indiana in the month of May? We have
our doubts, but after this last week, even our loyalties to the
Hoosier State were strained.

We hooked up once again with our friend
Robert Gill who talked us into going down to the middle of the
state a few days earlier than we had planned. We left late
Tuesday night and made our way to David Sinks house in
Anderson. Dave is a great photographer and a fellow friend of
ours and he made a gracious host to a couple of bums.

The plans for the week included practice
for the Little 500 at Anderson on Wednesday afternoon, the USAC
50 lapper that night, Carb Day at the Speedway and Little 500
time trials Thursday afternoon, then the Indy Midget 500 at the
Speedrome Thursday night. From there we would watch second round
time trials at Anderson on Friday afternoon, head to the State
Fairgrounds Friday night for the Hulman Classic and then get
ready for the Little 500 Saturday night.

Suffice it to say that the best laid
plans failed to materialize. We saw more rainbows than racing and
by the time we were standing in Victory Lane Saturday night at
Anderson, a drowned rat would have dried out more quickly than
all of our sopping gear.

After lots of beer, a ton of bench
racing, a visit to the Slippery Noodle, and a few hundred extra
miles on R.G.s Blazer, we got to see the one we really came
for. The 53rd Annual Payless
Supermarkets Little 500 was worth the wait and we got to watch
Eric Gordon take his 3rd Victory in this
prestigious race over Dave Steele, David Harrison, Gary Fedewa,
and Brandon Petty. Steele led 115 of the first 116 laps, while
Harrison, Fedewa, and Petty all looked strong and led the race at
one point or another.

Were not going to give you the
whole run down here as you can certainly read it elsewhere in the
Times, but we will touch on some neat trivia and some thoughts
that we came away with.

We thought it was pretty cool that our
friend Jeff Bloom got his first ever Little 500 after the Silver
Anniversary of his first Little 5 start. Eric Gordon and Dave
Steele made up the rest of the front row. Jeffs luck ran
out on lap 337when he blew an engine in turn 3.

Some notables that didnt make the
show were Bentley Warren and Dorman Snyder. Both blew engines in
practice, Warren in the V-6 Boles car and Snyder in the venerable
and ageless Bellair roadster. Stan Butler was another driver that
failed to make the show. He broke a streak dating back to 1982
after trying desperately to get the handle on a car that he had
very little track time with.

Jonathan Venard was the youngest starter
in the race at 18 and veteran Benny Rapp was the oldest at 78.
Venard finished 30th, and Rapp came home
15th.

We had a good time talking to Rookie
Rick Pardee. Rick and his crew towed all the way from Utah and
nearly had to tow back home without getting to start in their
first Little 5.

Pardee now knows what Billy Boat was
thinking two weeks ago when he was riding "the Bubble"
at Indy. Pardee was the 33rd fastest
qualifier and sat in his car through a brief rain shower and six
other attempts to knock him out of the field

He waited and hoped that the rain would
cancel the rest of the second day attempts, but the track crew,
who had become well versed in the art of ¼ mile high banked race
track drying procedures, got the track ready to go for several
final tries. Jason Blonde, Bill Allen, Larry Fritz, John Batts
and Stan Butler all gave it their best shot, but to no avail.

In the end Pardee made the field, was
the first car to spin, was involved in a small jingle in turn 2
with Bill Tyler, then spun again on lap 245, but ended up
finishing the race and placing 20th.
"Next year were gonna have radios because I would have
been a lot faster." Said Pardee afterwards. "This is a
fun race and I am glad we came out, but we will be more prepared
next year."

Nine rookies started the race with Chris
Hayes of Rockford, Michigan piloting the Wayne Stickney #99 to a
fourth place start.

Veteran David Harrison was the fastest
second round qualifier in the former Gary Schlaffer V-6 roadster
now owned by Bob Cechstein. Harrison encountered some trouble
early on but was later one of the fastest cars on the track and
rallied back to a 17th place finish.

Former supermod pilot, Indy car driver,
Winston cup shoe, and former Little 500 winner, Chet Fillip
qualified the Dick Fuller STL entry poorly. He started 17th but
looked strong early in the race and was moving up until he ran
over a car going into turn 3 when it checked up on a restart.
Chet tried to continue, but had to come to the pits for repairs
two laps later when the front end started shaking violently. He
lost several laps but eventually made it back out to race and
finished 14th.

What were our impressions? Lets
just say that we hadnt done a whole lot of smiling all week
long until the Little 500 got under way and from that point on we
were grinning the rest of the long night. While we dont get
the goose bumps and tears for the start like we do at Classic, we
nonetheless, feel the rush, the thrill and the excitement that
the roar of 33 cars three abreast, and haulin ass on the
high banks can produce. Its a thrill to watch the drivers
work hard for 500 laps trying to get through traffic, knowing
that the arms are like Jell-O and the legs are cramping faster
than a marathon runner half way through the race. As usual there
was never a lack of racing and the race was never boring. We have
yet to come away from the Little 500 bored, even when Bob Frey
was winning all the time and we never get tired of going back. We
just hope next year isnt as wet as the Silver Bullets we
polished off.

While we were cussing out Mother Nature,
the ISMA boys were in action at the "Home of the
Supermodifieds". The Jim Shampine Memorial featured an ISMA
50 lapper and a non-winged Oswego 50 lap points show.

ISMA had 27 supers show up while Oswego
boasted 32 in their pits. Mike Ordway took home his first win of
the season in the Oswego portion of the program. Ordway who is
driving for Clyde Booth this year won over, Greg Furlong, Jamie
Moore, Shannon Groves, and last weeks winner, Bob
Goutermout. Filling out the rest of the top ten were Tim Snyder,
Jerry Curran, Otto Sitterly, Dave Trytek, and Scott Eldred.

ISMAs next race will be the one we
have anticipated every year. This year it is the "Midwest
Swing" as the ISMA cars and stars will compete at the Toledo
Speedway high banks as well as Berlin. Berlin will be ISMAs
highest paying show of the year and will no doubt encourage a
very good car count for both races.

The SRL races on at Meridian, ID for the
Diamond Cup this weekend. Hopefully Davey Hamilton can make up
for the rotten luck he had at the Speedway. What a bummer to run
as high as 7th with 20 laps to go only
to drop out with engine failure and end up way back.

This week has been a long one so were
at 2 Winchester Trails, Goshen, IN trying to recuperate. While we
do, well be waiting for your phone calls at (219) 534-0520,
and checking for any email sent to wingsideup@earthlink.net. We hope our new friend Fido, who used to help
out Timmy J. and camped next door to ma and pa, will check out
the website this week for updates and new pix from the Little 5.
Its at www.wingsideup.tripod.com.

Were wishing a very happy birthday
to Kate Gariepy who turned another page on the 27th.
She may be a year older, but shes still as fine as they
come. Also to our good neighbor, friend and fellow "Fridge
of Fame" member, Sherry Grote on the 28th.

We have to thank Dave Sink for the great
hospitality this weekend and also ma and pa for letting us hang
out in their new Fleetwood Class A Motorhome. Now we just have to
come up with a name for it. We thought "Billys Bounder"
or the "Hoosier Hustler", but we think we can come up
with something a little more catchy and more akin to ma and pas
love for the supers. Its quite a step up from the Coleman
pop-up, more comfortable, and a great way to stay dry and "Keep
It Wing Side Up and Wheels to the Ground."